Skye and Elissa

My twin nieces love getting their photographs taken. They are great fun and full of mischief!

These shots were taken at Boat of Garten Caravan Park, August 2009.

 

 

Ex 3 Lighting

This exercise requires me to take 6 head and shoulders portraits of the same person under very different lighting conditions. Where to beging! The possibilities are endless.

1 Indoors, natural light

Nikon D40, F7, ISO 200, 52mm

I didn't plan this shot but saw the light streaming through the bedroom blinds, which brought prison bars to mind. Add one jailbird, longing to escape. . .

Ex 2: Thinking about location update

 Made a start finding my 6 locations.

These pillars are at the entrance to The Gallery of Modern Art, Glasgow. They have strength and pattern. I would like to come back on a brighter day as I know there are interesting shadows which would bring out the stonework. The shot I imagine would have a figure stading or sitting at the end of the row with a shallow depth of field, blurred nearest the camera.

This empty shopfront on Argyll Street is advertising an exhibition by the artist Joe O'Brien. I think fun could be had with the interplay of the painted portraits and the passer-by.

UPDATE 27/4/10

Actually completed this exercise a while ago, just haven't had time to organise and upload the shots.

This is the new bridge across the Clyde, which has these fabulous traingular columns and sweeping curves. I went back and took pictures of my husband, one of which I intend to submit for Assignment 1.

This metal textured wall at The Lighthouse Gallery caught my eye. I thought it would provide an uncluttered backdrop but eventually dismissed it as too plain. Perhaps it would suit an edgy urban fashion shot.

The exercise guidelines suggest that photographing someone in familiar suuroundings may help them feel comfortable, so I considered our conservatory and kitchen, mainly as test shots for Assignment 1. Both work reasonably well in bright daylight conditions but are confined spaces, which might have been restrictive for a whole body or torso shot.

This shelving is in an artroom at my college. I liked all the objects on the shelves and that there was plenty of natural light from the window. I decided to return with one of our art students. My idea was to use the backdrop to hint that she was an artisit. The yellow dumpbins were messy, so I removed them.

Although I liked the shallow depth of field, I thought the background was ultimately too cluttered and I didn't like the magazine files to the left of Paula's face, so I opted for a tighter crop.

The problem now is that not enough 'art' materials are visble to make the connection. The concept of photographing an artist in the studio still appeals to me but I would need to reconsider the setting to successfully shoot a torso or whole body portrait.

Finally, I considered a wild, outdoor environment, again putting somebody into surrounding they were familiar with. Marion is a keen hillwalker and climber and we have been up to the cliffs on Ben Nevis many times, so I knew they would make an imposing backdrop. I think her stance, the winter colours and the wide angle (18mm), all contribute to making this a successful portrait of Marion.

Ex 4: An active portrait

I am good friends with the owners of Walkers Cycling, so emailed them to see if I could take picture of the mechanics in the workshop for my active portrait. I visited the shop on 24/10/09 and spoke to Drew. I had met him briefly once before, so explained about my OCA course, the exercise and what I was hoping to achieve from the shoot. We spent some time chatting about cycling and his job, building a good rapport, then I suggested he worked on a bike and I would "snap" away while he worked. I felt it was important that the shots didn't look set up.

Problems quickly became apparent. The harsh strip lights were casting strong shadows and the workshop is very cramped so it was difficult to work to a wider angle. I kept the white balance on auto and the picture only needed cooled down slightly in Photoshop. ISO was around 400-800 using auto. The strong ambient light helped keep the ISO resonably low so there is little noise evident in the shots.

F4.2, ISO 500, 32mm, pop-up flash fired

An early shot which required fill-in flash as the strip light directly above meant Drew's face was in shadow. Although the aperture is wide the background is still reasonalbly in focus because of the short focal length and the close proximity of the Drew to the background. I feel shooting upwards works as the bike frame leads you into the shot and you can see Drew's face.

F4.5, ISO 800, 40mm, pop-up flash fired

Again this shot required fill-in flash. The bikes in the background give context to the shot but I am not so keen on the dumpbins which make the rest of the background too cluttered. Again I am shooting from below eye level as you would not see his face otherwise.

F4.5, ISO 450, 35mm, pop-up flash fired

This is my favourite from the shoot. I think Drew has relaxed sufficiently to look engrossed in his work, almost unaware I was still taking pictures. I like the way the light is catching the right side of his face but hate the artex ceiling and the edge of the stiplight showing by the saddle. Unfortunately, a better angle was not possible.

 

Defocusing the background using gaussian blur and converting to black and white in Photoshop helps focus attention on Drew. Below is another shot I think benefits from a black and white approach.

 

I think I have been successful in creating a 'contextual portait' of a bike mechanic that shows an expression of concentration and focus on the job in hand. He does however look very serious and it would have been nice to capture more of a smile.